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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23531293">Mute</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElsieBlake/pseuds/ElsieBlake'>ElsieBlake</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The 100 (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Mercenaries, And I don't want to spoil anything, Basically if they exist in the show they are in this, But we would be here all day, Clurphy brotp, I could say more, I'll add more tags at the beginning of chapters, Swearing, There are canon ships, crack ships, lots of ships, probably</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 15:35:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,456</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23531293</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElsieBlake/pseuds/ElsieBlake</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>As one of the 13 Clans, Arkadia specializes in training children to be mercenaries. Clarke Griffin is one of their most lethal initiates. This is the story from the day she arrived to the day she left, with every smile, tear and scream in between.</p><p>Or, Clarke and a mass amount of other characters spend most of their time acting like idiots while trying not to die.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Clarke Griffin &amp; Everyone, Clarke Griffin &amp; John Murphy, Clarke Griffin &amp; Raven Reyes, Lots of background relationships - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Mute</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello.<br/>This is the first chapter - obviously - of a long multi-chapter i will try my hardest to complete. It is full with references from the 100 and other fandoms, a bunch of ships and brotps, and lots of past and present characters. This chapter is a bit jumpy, which I apologies for, but I've rewritten it too many times. </p><p>For all those hard-core Bellarkers, this is a slow burn, as in Bellamy doesn't even show up until chapter 10 (ish), but i promise there are lots of other relationships to keep you happy.</p><p>With that said, let's get on with the show!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I was eleven when my mother sold me off. My dad had just died and, since he was our main source of income, my mum started to worry about how she could keep us stable with little money. There was a lot of debt from my dad's operations and my mum didn't get enough money being a school nurse to keep us going. I knew that something was wrong, but I was too young to figure out what.</p><p>I didn't think much of it the day that my mum picked me up from my best friends house a couple hours early and suggested we go to the park. She told me to give Wells a big hug and say goodbye, which I did, with the promise of meeting him outside school the next day.</p><p>We spent a good hour at the park, on the swings and eating ice cream before it melted in the warm sun. Then she walked us over to a bench and knelt down in front of me, looking into my eyes with her serious ones, not once did they hint what was to come.</p><p>"I love you, Clarke," she said, with a slight smile.</p><p>"I know," I replied, still buzzing a bit from all the sherbet on my ice cream, not understanding the severity of the situation.</p><p>"There is a man I would like you to meet, his name is Kane, he was a friend many years ago. He has very kindly agreed to look after you."</p><p>"Okay, for how long?" I asked, expecting my mum to pop to the shop and be back in a few minutes.</p><p>Instead of answering, she turned me around to face a tall man with greased back hair and a suit. He had a stern look covering his features, but, once he looked down at me, it melted away.</p><p>"Hello Clarke. You ready to come with me?" Kane asked softly.</p><p>I turned back to my mum, to say goodbye, but she wasn't there. My mum had left me, without telling me when, or if, she would come to get me. I simply had to nod and follow Kane to his car. I clambered into the backseat while he got in shotgun and the man in the drivers seat started to pull out.</p><p>"Would you like a sweet?" Kane asked, offering a wrapped, hard boiled sweet to me.</p><p>I took the sweet without a word and plopped it in my mouth. It started fizzing on my tongue, tasting sour and making me want to spit it out. I started to cough and gag. Kane just told me to swallow it. So I did. Next thing I knew, my world turned black around me.</p>
<h1>________</h1><p>I woke up lying on a couch in a steel room. Everything was made of the grey metal; the shelves in the walls, the desk, the chair behind it, though it couldn't possibly be comfortable. There were tubes of light running around the room casting a blue hue over it. The couch I was sprawled across seemed to be the only piece of fabric in there.</p><p>I stood up, a bit wobbly at first, but I got used to it. I tried to find something on the desk, though I didn't really know what I was looking for. There was only a pile of blank papers, a locked computer and locked drawers. My dad's desk had always been covered in old papers and coffee mugs, but this one was so clean I could see my reflection in the metal.</p><p>The door clicked as the handle was pushed down on the other side. Without even thinking, I ducked down behind the desk.</p><p>"I know you're there, Clarke," I knew the voice, it belonged to Kane. If my mum had given me to him, then she must trust him, right? That was my reasoning behind standing up and facing the man before me. He looked almost the same as before, still in a clean cut, black suit, hands behind him and back straight. The only difference was his hair, no longer was it greased back but allowed to go wherever it wanted. It made him look kinder somehow.</p><p>"You do not have to fear me," he said. "I am sorry for the sweet, but we can not have anyone knowing where we are." He smiled then, "Even an eleven year old girl."</p><p>"Where-?… What-?… Why-?…" No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't form the words to a question in my head.</p><p>"Your mother sold you to me, to be a part of my service. You belong to us now." Kane watched me expectantly, but I just stared back in response. I may have been eleven, but I did understand what he was saying. I wasn't going to be seeing Wells at school the next day, or maybe not ever again.</p><p>As I got older I would understand why my mum did it, she needed the money. After my dads hospital bills started rolling in, we started having trouble, something I had been to young to realise. Nevertheless, it didn’t excuse her from selling her child. </p><p>"I am the Chancellor of this sector of the 13 Clans. Each clan is trained to specialise in different things. For example, Azgeda are trained to be assassins, Trikru are bounty hunters, Floukru are bodyguards. Do you understand?"</p><p>I nodded.</p><p>"This is Arkadia, we train mercenaries, like you will soon be. You will be trained to do jobs that a client will pay you for. A percentage of that will go to us and the rest to you to do with what you will. It is a good idea to spend it on armoury and clothing for jobs since there isn't much else you will be doing. However, some people spend it on things to decorate their quarters. Are you still keeping up with what I'm saying?"</p><p>I nodded. I may have been young but I wasn't stupid.</p><p>"Good. It's half four, Skaikru should be done in the sports hall soon. I'll take you to your quarters, then you can go to dinner. You will start training in the morning with the others."</p><p>He led me out of his office and down an endless corridor. He turned the corners with ease, but to me every wall looked the same grey steel so that it looked like we had gone in circle. For all I knew, we had.</p><p>"You get used to the layout," Kane explained in front of me. "It's to confuse any intruders."</p><p>And stop any newbies from escaping.</p><p>Eventually we reached the end of a corridor that spanned into a large semicircle, 8 corridors coming off from it. Kane pointed to the second one.</p><p>"That is yours. Only you and the others who sleep in those quarters are permitted in there. Same goes for the others. You will only see what is at the end of corridor 2. Do you understand?"</p><p>I nodded.</p><p>"The groups in each corridor have different names. Yours is Skaikru, corridor six is Grounders, they sometimes get timetabled with you to train."</p><p>We walked down corridor 2 together. It came out at a large circular room filled with couches, books and lockers.</p><p>"This is your social area, often referred to as the Ring" Kane explained. "And this is your room." He pointed to one of the steel doors, the third of 8. The metal was thick and cold with a sheet of glass put in it and a small curtain on the other side. He pulled the door open to reveal a modest sized room with four grey walls, a low metal bed with blue covers and a cabinets made out of lockers lining the wall.</p><p>"Like I said before," Kane continued, "You can fill your room however you want once you get money from jobs. If you're lucky, maybe one of the older kids will take a liking to you and give you some of their old things in the mean time."</p><p>I ran my hand across the top of one of the lockers, a thin layer of dust came away on my fingers.</p><p>"The doors lock at 11pm to 5am, make sure you are inside by that time. Bells ring every hour, you should be informed by another member of your group where you have to go at which bell. If not find a trainer and get them to tell you."</p><p>I tried to wrap my brain around everything, but I was only partly listening to Kane talk. My mother, someone I trusted, loved, sold me off like a piece of furniture she had got bored of.</p><p>Kane was watching me as if waiting for some kind of reaction from me. Once he realised that he wasn't going to get one, he left.</p><p>Not knowing what else to do, I walked into the Ring and sat on one of the couches. It was the first colourful place she had seen in the building. The chairs, pillows and rug underneath them were all bright colours that didn't really go together. A couple of posters and papers had been hung on the wall, there was even a small basket ball net above door 8.</p><p>It was only a few minutes later that I heard voices flowing up the corridor. A fourteen year old girl raced towards the Ring, but came to a sudden halt when her eyes landed on me.</p><p>"Who the hell are you?" She asked, her arms crossed and her chin held up.</p><p>I didn't reply, I simply stared at the girls ratty brown hair with a thick braid running down the middle. She looked furious and up her own ass. Not exactly a welcoming meeting, but one that allowed me a glance of how people would treat me for the next few years.</p><p>A boy, my age this time with greasy hair and a wicked smirk, ran behind the girl and launched himself on the couch opposite me. "Her names Clarke," he said.</p><p>"How would you know?" The girl huffed.</p><p>"It's on her door, Roma," he said with a bored point to the small plaque under the pane of glass.</p><p>"Whatever," she - Roma - said.</p><p>Five more people arrived, barely sparing me a glance. They quickly disappeared into their rooms, all except the greasy haired boy.</p><p>"I'm Murphy," he said. I glanced around at the doors. His was next to mine, but under his name the word <cite>'Cockroach'</cite> was written in yellow paint. "You'll get used to this place eventually, or not, your stuck here either way."</p><p>I didn't respond. No matter how hard I tried, no words would form enough in my head to allow me to speak. It shouldn't have been that difficult.</p><p>"Not much of a talker," Murphy pointed out. "I like that. Race you to dinner?"</p><p>I raised an eyebrow, hoping he would get the message. He did.</p><p>"Or I could show you were the canteen is and we can race tomorrow?"</p><p>To which I nodded, happily.</p><p>At first, I wasn't quite sure that I could class Murphy as my friend. Most of the time he was just there to make fun. He tended to sit next to me in the social area and at meals. It didn't take long for me to realise it was a friendship, not one like Wells and I, but one nonetheless. Murphy was the only person who actually bothered to even try to talk to me, which was nice. He spoke most of the time, making sure that if I had to input I could do it by nodding or shaking my head. Everyone else pretty much ignored me after they realised I would not speak. I hadn't uttered a word since those broken questions in Kane's office. If I tried, I probably would have been able to form a full sentence, I just didn't want to.</p><p>Unfortunately, my lack of social skills led to some unfortunate nicknames. Ontari, a thirteen year old who seemed to have a thing for Murphy for some unknown reason, came up with the name <cite>'Mute'</cite>. She was very proud of herself when she yelled the name across the canteen. Murphy had laughed as I hit my head on the table.</p><p>"Cheer up, Clarke. Could be worse."</p><p>I raised my head and gave him my best <em>how?</em> expression.</p><p>"They call me Cockroach." I had smiled at that. "I've taken quite a few beatings off one of the trainers, but I come back every time. You never know, you could be cockroach too."</p><p>Then I got back to my room to see <cite>Mute</cite> painted below the name tag on my door. It was done in the same ugly yellow as Cockroach was on Murphy's.</p><p>Some of the trainers, like Titus and Indra, were nice but tough. Others were just cruel. Emerson was the worst, and he liked to pick on the younger kids like Murphy and I. Murphy seemed to be his favourite victim, but I had a feeling that would change once I stopped doing laps. I had been a sporty kid, but my stamina wasn't great, nor was my strength. I spent the first month running laps and lifting weights.</p><p>I was right to be worried about how Emerson would treat me. I had only been off laps and onto basic fighting for a week when I was called to the mats. Titus has been teaching me simple combat manoeuvres and sequences, when Emerson decided I should fight someone properly. He believed that it was better to throw us in the deep end.</p><p>"The Mute," he sneered, "will be fighting Roma." It was no secret that Roma didn't like me, even though I had never done anything. Plus, she had been training for almost two years, which made my week of basics look like nothing. Murphy was right, Emerson was a dick </p><p>I shuffled onto the mat, trying to hold my head high. My mum had always been big on pride and looking strong, at least there was something I could be thankful for when it came to her. It didn't seem to matter as much when I saw the look on Roma's face, there was no doubt in her mind that she was going to win.</p><p>The majority of the fight was a blur. I remember the thoughts whurling around my head and how painful the hits to my stomach had been. What I don't remember is how exactly I managed to overpower Roma enough to get her on her back, or maybe she'd pushed me on the floor first and somehow we had swapped places? What I will never forget was the look on Roma's face as blood sprayed from her nose, or how it made my hands sticky until I was finally allowed to wash it off an hour later.</p><p>After that Titus started training me harder and I was on the mats more and more often, winning 8/10 times. After another two months, I was put into intermediate with Indra as my trainer, which meant I surpassed Ontari. We still trained with the others, just on the other side of the warehouse looking hall we called Alpha.</p><p>My favourite time of the day was our allotted slot for personal training in Mecha. It was when we could practice whatever we wanted without the trainers present. Murphy and I like to spend the time sparring and pretending we knew what we were doing with the equipment provided. It was the closest any of us were going to get to a play area in Arkadia.</p><p>"Come on, Mute," Murphy shouted from the top of the climbing frame. "I haven't got all day."</p><p>The thing was absurd and completely unsafe. It was made up of blue pipes and resembled monkey bars piled on top of each other at dodgy angles. Nevertheless, I clapped the white dust onto my hand and jumped up to grab onto the first bar.</p><p>"They're you go. We'll make a cockroach out of you yet."</p><p>I let out a soft laugh, the only noise I would let escape my mouth, as I reached for the next bar. It took me a good twenty minutes to reach Murphy, who was sat on a small platform at the top. Together we sat and smiled down at the scene below us, until the doors flew open and Emerson walked through.</p><p>"Mute," he yelled.</p><p>"Here," Murphy said for me. Ever since Emerson slapped me for making him actually look for me, Murphy answered when my name was called. </p><p>"Get down. The chancellor wants to see you. Now."</p><p>I hadn't seen Kane since the day he brought me to Arkadia almost six months ago and getting called to his office didn't seem like a good sign. Murphy and I scrambled down the climbing frame with so much haste that I fell the last two metres.</p><p>"You okay?" He asked as he landed next to me. With a quick nod, I got up and ran out of the room to find Chancellor Kane's office.</p><p>When I reached the door it was already wide open. I could see that the room hadn't changed much since I had been there last, except for the easel placed in the corner of the room. The wall behind the couch that I had woken up on was also different. It was no longer steel, but a glass window looking out onto Alpha where another group was training.</p><p>"Come in, Clarke," Kane said when he saw me loitering outside the door.</p><p>I glanced between him and the easel with a large sketchbook sat on top of it.</p><p>"Believe it or not," he started, "We actually care about your wellbeing here. Your inability to talk has us worried, or perhaps not your inability but your decision to stay silent. In an attempt to help with this, I did some research. You enjoy art, is that right?"</p><p>I nodded. My dad had been an artist, he used to let me sit in his studio with him and paint, telling me that my stick men were 'excellent'.</p><p>"I'd like to offer you an arrangement. You can come to my office and paint everyday at 4 for an hour, in return, you must have at least one conversation everyday, even if it is just with me." Kane looked at me expectantly. It was a good deal, all I would miss was the second half of whatever session I was timetabled that day, then I could meet Murphy for dinner at 5.</p><p>I started nodding in confirmation, but soon stopped. I opened my mouth, "O-kay." The word came out cracked and quiet. I hadn't uttered a word in 6 months and it almost felt foreign to start doing it again.</p><p>"Good," Kane said, gesturing to the sketch book. "Have fun."</p><p>My fingers itched to get a hold of those paint brushes, I hadn't realised how much I had missed painting. By the time an hour was up I didn't want to leave. Kane practically had to push me out of his office.</p><p>Murphy was already sat in his usual seat, the end of a table as far away as possible from anyone else, when I got to the canteen. I slid into the seat opposite him with a smile on my face.</p><p>"I see the chancellor didn't kill you," he said when he saw me.</p><p>"It's a shame really," Roma said. Neither me nor Murphy had seen her, but a second later she was stood above us. "Would have done us a favour."</p><p>Murphy groaned at her. "Go float yourself."</p><p>"Oh, I'm sorry, I can't quite hear you from down there Cockroach." Murphy looked like he wanted to punch her in the face, I nudged his leg with my foot in the hope of distracting him. "Careful, or both of you might just get squashed." Then Roma left to take her seat with Ontari. </p><p>"I hate her. She's such a brat," Murphy grumbled. "You know she's the one that gave me the nickname." I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "I do like the name. I just don't like when she says it. I wouldn't mind hearing you call me Cockroach, but I guess then we would have to find you a different nickname."</p><p>I couldn't help the small smile that crossed my face. Murphy's own smile followed soon after and then we were both laughing. I hadn't realised how comfortable I had become with Murphy. He reminded me a lot of Wells, a sarcastic and sometimes rude Wells. But he could always make me smile. I was glad he had ended up in Arkadia too, I don't know what I would have become if he hadn't.
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you enjoyed chapter 1. </p><p>This has sort of been my experiment to see what response I get. I won't post any more chapter until I've written more of the future ones, but this will not be abandoned, I will continue.</p><p>I you have any scenes, conversations, plots, headcanons, relationships, that you would like to see please leave them in the comments, it would really help.</p><p>Thanks for reading,<br/>El</p></blockquote></div></div>
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